Mum’s happiness more important to children

Washington, April 3 (ANI): A new UK study has found that a mother’s happiness in her partnership is more important to the child than the father’s.

The findings are based on a sample of 6,441 women, 5,384 men and 1,268 young people.

The Understanding Society research examined the relationships between married or cohabiting partners, and relationships between parents and their children.

Overall, 60 percent of young people said they were ‘completely satisfied’ with their family situation but in families where the child’s mother is unhappy in her partnership, only 55 percent of young people said they were ‘completely happy’ with their family situation - compared with 73 percent of young people whose mothers are ‘perfectly happy’ in their relationships.

Prof John Ermisch, Maria Iacovou, and Alexandra Skew from the Institute for Social and Economic Research found that the happiest children are those living with two parents - either biological or step - with no younger siblings, who do not quarrel with their parents regularly, who eat at least three evening meals per week with their family and whose mother is happy in her own relationship.

“At a time when there is widespread political concern about ‘Broken Britain’, these findings show that family relationships and the happiness of parents are key to the happiness of young people,” said Iacovou.

“Contrary to the popular belief that children only want to spend time playing videogames or watching TV we found that they were most happy when interacting with their parents or siblings,” she added.

The research also found that having older siblings was not related to children’s happiness with their family, but having younger siblings in the household is associated with lower levels of satisfaction.

But relationships with parents are even more important than relationships with siblings.

Only 28 percent of children who quarrel more than once a week with their parents, and don’t discuss important matters with their parents are completely happy with their families. (ANI)